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Duo Maxwell
is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. He is a central character of the anime and several of the derivative works that make up the After Colony fictional universe. Duo is the pilot of Gundam Deathscythe, one of the five Gundams sent to Earth during the events of the anime. His voice in the animated works is provided by Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Scott McNeil (English), Choi Won Hyeong (KOR), Erik Osorio (Latin America), Paolo Domingo (French), Francesco Orlando (Italiano) and Marcelo Campos (Brazilian). Character and Personality Of American origin, Duo is the pilot of XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe. He wears his hair in the form of a thick thigh-length braid and his signature outfit is a pair of dark, flared jodhpurs and a cassock-style shirt with a white turtleneck shirt underneath (giving it the appearance of a clerical collar). In the Endless Waltz movie, Duo wears what seems to be a red-zippered turtleneck underneath a leather motorcycle jacket with the sleeves rolled up. He is an expert salvager and a member of The Sweeper Group, a group of salvagers and tinkers. Duo refers to himself as the Shinigami (God of Death).The English version of Gundam Wing that was edited for showing on Cartoon Network's Toonami had Duo's God of Death nickname changed to The Great Destroyer, while the uncut version had the original nickname. The reason why he gave himself this nickname is explained in Episode Zero because he believes that those who get close to him are doomed to die, due to his sad and tragic past. On the exterior, Duo seems like a happy, charming, relaxed, and laid-back jokester, and for the most part he is; however, he is also a deep person with a terrible childhood with many dark feelings that he doesn't allow the other pilots to see. He always tries to be the prankster of the group and never misses a chance to crack a joke. Duo tries to hide behind his laughter from the bad parts of the world he lives in, especially from the killing he does as a Gundam pilot. He also cares deeply for his comrades and is never afraid to rush to their aide in battle. Episode Zero Duo grew up as an orphan in the colony Colony V-08744 in the L2 colony cluster, knowing nothing about his family or real name. In the year After Colony 187, he was a part of a street gang of orphans, which had to steal to survive and adopted the name "Duo" after the gang leader, Solo, died of a fever. ("If Solo's with me, we'll be Duo.") Later on, he and the rest of the gang were taken in by the Maxwell Church. The other children were eventually adopted, but Duo's foster parents sent him back and he was adopted by Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, the priest and head nun of the Maxwell Church. During his time at the church, Duo's hair was placed in its recognizable braid by Sister Helen and he and Father Maxwell exchanged banter about the existence of God with Duo asserting that he didn't believe in God, but in the God of Death, as he'd seen many people die. The next year, a group of rebels revolted against the occupying the United Earth Sphere Alliance and used the church for shelter. Duo promised to steal a mobile suit for them so that they would leave the church alone and succeeded in securing one but returned to find the church destroyed, Father Maxwell dead, and Sister Helen alive long enough for her to die in Duo's arms. Following the "Maxwell Church Tragedy"(which claimed 245 lives) Duo took on the surname Maxwell. In After Colony 192, Duo stowed away on a spaceship owned by Professor G and the Sweeper Group. He was caught but decided joined the Sweeper Group and became a Gundam pilot. Three years later, before Operation Meteor began, Duo refused to go along with Operation Meteor's original plan and attempted to destroy his Gundam but stole it under Professor G's prompting and went to Earth to wage war on OZ. Gundam Wing After landing on Earth, Duo destroyed a mobile suit factory in central North America and then attacked an Alliance naval fleet that was attempting to salvage the sunk Wing Gundam. Duo decided to use Wing Gundam as his "back-up" mobile suit unaware the pilot, Heero Yuy, was attempting to destroy it. The two got into a stand-off after Duo came across Heero holding Relena Darlian at gunpoint and Heero was shot but not before blasting his and Duo's Gundam with a set of missiles(though the Gundams were unharmed). A day later, after recovering Deathscythe and Wing Gundam, Duo broke Heero out of an Alliance hospital and the two used Howard's salvage ship as their base of operations. His suit still damaged during re-entry, Heero used components from Duo's Deathscythe to repair his Gundam overnight and and flew off to complete a mission the next morning. Later, Duo encountered Heero again en route to the the New Edwards Base where they were thought OZ leaders were gathering. This information(leaked by OZ leader Treize Khushrenada) proved to be false as the meeting was actually attended Alliance pacifists. The Gunam pilots' attack on the base ended with Heero destroying a shuttle carrying the Alliance's top officials who were seeking peace and Duo would meet the other three Gundam pilots: Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei. The God of Death then enrolled in school with Heero as civilian cover until a mission called for them to destroy Taurus mobile suits being transported to a Siberian base. OZ proved more than ready for the Gundams and Lady Une threatened the colonies if they did not surrender and hand over their mobile suits. Heero self-detonated Wing Gundam and Duo escaped with Quatre and the Maganac Corps to their base in the Middle East. The two avoided detection from OZ until the organization began freeing the colonies from the Alliance's control prompting them to return to space(along with the other three Gundam pilots). His Gundam not equipped for battle in space, Duo was captured by OZ and detained in Colony C-1102. Heero broke into his cell with the intent to kill Duo but helped him escape to another colony instead. Soon after that, Duo watched in horror as Deathscythe was destroyed in military exercise by Trowa(who was posing as a colony volunteer soldier for OZ). Duo then attempted to to destroy the Lunar Base after hearing of it's mobile suit production but was captured by colony OZ volunteer Hilde Schbeiker. He quickly broke loose(not before talking Hilde into re-thinking her decision to join OZ during an interrogation) and made it to the Lunar Base where he was captured again after witnessing his and Wufei's Gundams being rebuilt. He remained imprisoned and almost died from a lack of oxygen when Romefeller Foundation chief engineer Tsubarov shut off the air to the cells. Lady Une released him, Wufei and the Gundam engineers and Duo escaped, taking the incomplete Deathscythe Hell with him. Now living with Hilde on a colony and staging guerrilla attacks against Romefeller/OZ from the shadows, Duo was tracked down and forced to test Wing Gundam Zero's ZERO System by OZ officer Trant Clark. He ultimately fought Trant with his Deathscythe Hell and watched as Zero's ZERO System tore the OZ officer's mind apart and killed him. Later, Duo encountered an amnesiac Trowa while visiting the circus with Hilde(Trowa was believed dead after a Quatre went on a rampage with Wing Zero while Duo was imprisoned) and informed Quatre of this soon afterwards. After the colony rebel group White Fang approached him to join them and he turned them down, Duo left the colony, not wanting the colony or Hilde to get involved. Eventually, he saved Trowa, Quatre, and Lucrezia Noin from an OZ attack OZ and the group met up with Duo's Sweeper friend Howard, who was now in space and commanding the spaceship Peacemillion. Heero, Wufei and Sally Po ultimately got to Peacemillion too and Duo worked alongside them to combat the White Fang. During a sortie against the rebel group, Duo had to save Hilde from the rebuilt OZ-13MSX1 Vayeate and OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius mobile dolls(which were programmed with combat data taken from when Heero and Trowa) after she sneaked aboard the battleship Libra to extract information. Denouncing the prototypes as dolls, Duo swiftly destroyed them both. In the final battle between the Earth Sphere Unified Nation and White Fang, Duo found the five Gundam Scientists within Libra and flew them to Peacemillion(which had rammed into Libra and was hurtling toward Earth) so they could ignite it's engines and send it away from Earth-an act that cost the scientists their lives. Duo, alongside his Gundam comrades and the Maganac Corps then helped to destroy a final block of Libra before it entered Earth's atmosphere. Endless Waltz After working with Quatre to send four of the Gundams into the sun, Duo accompanied Heero in his attempt to rescue Relena after she was captured by Mariemaia Khushrenada(the illegitimate daughter of Treize). During their entrance to colony, Duo captured a Leo and fought Trowa(who had infiltrated the Mariemaia Army) in a Serpent briefly before escaping. He and the other pilots are able to disable numerous Serpent suits without killing any pilots. After Dekim Barton shot Mariemaia and was shot and killed by a Treize loyalist, the conflict ended and Duo self-detonated Deathscythe Hell alongside Quatre, Trowa and their suits. Duo was last seen eating lunch with Hilde in the colonies. Quotes Quote:Duo Maxwell * "I am the God of death!" * "Duo, Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide, but I'll never tell a lie. Yeah, that's me in a nut shell." Notes and References Category:After Colony characters